Growing up with drug dependency

1
Growing up with drug dependency

• Marina Barnard PhD
• Centre for Drug Misuse Research
• Glasgow University

2

• Its no bad people that become addicts and its
  no bad people that dont care about their kids.
  Its just people that an addiction has got a grip
  of and that is more powerful than anything, even
  the love that a parent would have for their
  children. It just overrules even that.
• (Parent)

3

• When I was rattlingI dont want her (baby) near
  me jus keep her away fae me, I cannae cope wi
  her, or he would say are you gonnae change
  her? and Id be like that Och, Ill get her in
  a minute and it would always be a minute, a
  minute, a minute. And sometimes she even went a
  day without even getting anything to eat
• (Parent)

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Estimate of problem drug using parents and their
children in Scotland

• Prevalence of problem drug use in Scotland (2001)
  55,800 (39,00 males 16,600 females)
• DORIS study of 1000 drug users starting
  treatment 57 of females are parents (17,900)
  and 60 of males are parents (22,300).
• 1.47 children per mother 1.46 children per
  father
• Between 40,800 and 58,700 children in Scotland
  with drug dependent parents
• 41.2 of female parents living with child
• 16.4 of male parents living with child

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Sample

• Semi-structured interviews with
• 62 parents
• 36 children and young people (8 years)
• - n23 resident with interviewed parent
• - n13 contact not through parent (n9 not
  resident with parent)
• -Average age 14.8, range 8-22
• (n12 lt 12 n19 lt 17 n5 aged 19-22)
• -27/36 resident with parents

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Descriptive information on parents

• Sample differentiated between parents who
  werecurrently drug free (n23), methadone
  maintained (n21), those whose drug use was
  uncontrolled (n18)
• Sample primarily mothers (n58)
• Average age 33 years
• 64 of parents lived alone
• Most parents had 2 children (range 1-4)

7
Controlled drug use

• There would be times where if I had plenty of
  drugs or like on a period where I was controlling
  drugs that I would be acting normal, but they
  widnae last very long, maybe a couple of weeks.

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Growing up with drug dependent parents

• Disrupted households
• Exposure to parental drug use
• Exposure to criminality and violence
• Disturbed education
• Role Reversal
• Living with stigma and fear
• Being there

9
Disrupted households

• We never had any routines at all. I mean we
  could go to our beds at three in the morning if
  we wanted (Katy, 19 years)
• If shes rattlingshell go out and shell buy
  somethingIm always in the house watching Liam
  (brother, aged 3),like shell say shes just
  going to the shop but then she comes back 2 hours
  later and goes straight to the toilet...and
  shell be like out of her face in 15, 20 minutes
  (Leonie, 13 years)
• Ma mum cooked but most o the time shed just
  give us money to get up and get a roll on
  chipsSometimes ma Gran would do it (shopping)Ma
  mum was always away somewhere (Richard, 10 years)
• t

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Exposure to parental drug use

• I walked in on them once when I was a wee boy
  and I saw them (mum, aunt and uncle) takin
  stuff. Aye and other people that were in the
  house taking itlike on tinfoiltooting. Thats
  the first time I caught them and they jus
  started doing it in front of me, didnae hide it
  then. (Dan 15)
• My ma kind of took a drug overdose, but I didnae
  know, I jus thought she was sleeping cos I was
  only six or somethingSo I was tryin to keep ma
  wee sister quiet and tryin to waken ma Ma and I
  couldnae help her so I phoned down to the
  office../ (Elise, 14 years)

11
Exposure to drug related criminality and violence

• These guys who used to buy stuff off ma uncle,
  they all burst in and were holding knives up to
  our throats and that, asking for the drugs and
  the money and they were sayin they would cut our
  throats if they didnae give them itThey were
  holding the knife right up to my uncles neck as
  well, they were just screwy (Dan, 15 years)
• Like she always used to steal stuff like to get
  money for it And I used to always worry what she
  was gonnae steal next and all the big fights and
  all that. I felt scared in case she stole
  something of somebody elses and the Police would
  come(Sarah, 15 years)

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Erratic school attendance

• I was kidding on to ma Ma that I wasnae wellShe
  jus said Oh jus stay shed be in bed
  sleeping, sometimes wed jus sleep inShe went
  to be sometimes during the dayShe would know we
  werent at school and she didnt say anything
  about itthe school would phone ma Ma and send
  letters and things like that..Id jus say wed
  sleep in.
• (Richard, 10 years)

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Disturbed education

• when I went to school I thought right Ill
  no get shouted at, Ill no get hit and Ill no
  get the rest of it and Ill no see them taking
  drugs and I thought at school at the same time,
  kinda thing, whats gonnae happen the day when
  Im no in the house? Whats gonnae happen?
  Whats ma mum and dad gonnae do the day kinda
  thing?
• (Susan, 14 years)

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Role reversal

• Id be left with Ian (4 years) and I had to take
  care of him but she (mother) didnae really know.
  Shed come round for a wee while and wake up and
  all that but then shed go and take more stuff
  and shed be sort of out of it and she couldnae
  even bloomin boil a kettle or something to make
  his milk or somethingAnd like ma pals, theyd
  come up for me and I jus wouldnae go out to play
  cos I was scared for ma wee brotherwhat would
  happen like if she dropped her fag or something
  cos shes nearly set the house alight with her
  fag I dont know how many times.
• ( Leonie, 13 years)

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Stigma

• When she was taking drugs I did used to block it
  out, I used to get slagged at school... cause I
  didnae have any good clothes and.. I was (called)
  a black-neck laughs Cause yer neck wasnt
  washed... They used to say like ma Ma was a
  junkie and all that to me as well.
• (Orla, 19 years)

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Fear

• I just used to have this fear that she was
  gonnae die. There would be a rocking chair at the
  kitchen and I remember times when I could hear
  the rocking chair rocking and thats when shed
  be sat down injecting and shed sit on the
  rocking chair
• (Ruth, 17 years)

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Being there

• When ma mum is using drugs it just makes me feel
  as if I am here masel-no got anyone else here
• (Jenny, 15 years)
• I was looking about for them cos they said
  theyd come but they neverI thought they must
  no care about me thenthings like racing, yer
  school sports and they said they would come but
  they neverwhen I think about it now, it was like
  heartbreakingit wasnae very nice
• (Susan, 14 years)

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Being there

• R Whats the worst thing about it for you?
• I Shell not be a normal Ma and shell not be
  alert and all that to watch after you. Cos you
  want a Ma thatll just give you rulesits not
  something all the weans wantbut its annoying
  sometimes just being able to do what you want
  because people say to you your Ma doesnae care
  about you, she lets you go out to whatever time
  you want
• (14 year old)

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What do children need from services?

• Protection
• Recognition that the parents drug problem is a
  family problem
• Respite from stressful family environments
• Opportunity to develop their potential despite
  familial difficulties

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Conclusion

• Recognition of great potential for compromised
  parenting capacity and adverse child outcomes
• Absolute imperative to keep children at the
  forefront of practice and policy initiatives to
  meet their needs and protect them